Res-ale-utions

East End Snow Melt Winter Ale

or... Happy New Beers!

Things to do for 2008:
Post more.
Brew more.
Take more 'artistic' beer photos

T'was a good Christmas...

Welcome back from my brief hiatus. It's been a busy week, full of good cheer and good beer.

I've taken to dinner and shared a number of my Sly Fox Christmas Ales. Its been well received by all. I've also bought a fair amount of the Lancaster Winter Warmer, a nice tasty surprise and a good value, easily my favorite of their offerings.

Some of the boys in the Beer Club headed out for a round trip of a few spots in Western PA. I was unable to attend but sent along plenty of cash and empties. I got a pretty nice haul for not even attending.
-Growler of North Country Paleo IPA
-Growler of Hereford and Hops IPA
-Growler of East End Bitter End
-Growler of East End Snow Melt
-Bottle of East End Three (Third Anniversary Triple)
-Bottle of Southern Tier Choklat
-Bottle of Southern Tier Gemini
Not too bad for not being able to go along. Much thanks to those guys for accommodating me. So far I've only had the NC offering, but look forward to my thoughts on the others, plus a homebrewing update soon.

A PA-brewed Guinness alternative.

Don Russell, aka Joe Sixpack has posted his regular Friday column for the Philadelphia Daily News, choosing this week, appropriately, to highlight Sly Fox Brewing's O'Reilly's Stout.

Said O'Reilly: "Every bar that puts it on, it just makes it that much easier for us to tell other bars, 'See, you don't need to serve Guinness.'

I don't know of a single bar that started serving us that has gone back to Guinness."

It's gotten so popular, Sly Fox is considering canning the stout with one of those nifty widgets that help create the brew's signature foamy head.

There's one other thing that has to be said about O'Reilly's Stout: it just might taste better than the original.

Very cool, I'd be thrilled to pick up a sixer of widgeted O'Reilly's, especially since its currently a draft-only option, meaning it doesn't see its way out to western PA much. That said, last I was at Market Street Ale House in downtown Pittsburgh, they had it on tap, I'm assuming in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. I didn't get a chance to try it, as I had a meeting right after lunch that I was heading-up (though after the meeting, I kind of felt the pint wouldn't have done any harm).

Other options that I am personally aware of:

East End is having the 2-for-1 Black Strap Stout specials for (extended) growler hours this Saturday.

I was at Red Star yesterday and they had flyers up indicating an Irish Day tomorrow, with tappings of fresh Irish Red and Iron Horse Stout (the latter a GABF medal winner). I was hoping for a growler fill of either one but it was not to be.

North Country seems to have on their McCafferty's Ale, a "true Celtic Red ale".

Another new beer from East End!

News from the East End GOOD BEER newsletter.

Less than a month after releasing the Fat Gary, Scott has another new beer on the loose, Session Ale #7:

Session Ale #7 will make it's debut at Thursday Growler Hours this
week (as in later today), taking this weeks draft count back up to 5
(Witte is back in stock too!). It's my interpretation of a style that
has a bit of a reputation for being on the bland side of things... but
not this time. American Wheat beer roughly follows the recipe for a
German Wheat beer, but with some significant changes. Instead of
German Hefewiezen yeast, a more neutral American yeast strain is
typically used (or in this case, an English strain), and the noble
German hops are replaced with American Hops - LOTS of American hops,
but this is no Bitter End. It's all about Hop Flavor this time, and
packed into a beer that's still just about 4% alcohol by volume.

Sounds kind of like Southern Tier's HopSun to me, and that is not a bad thing at all. I'm really looking forward to this one, hopefully I can get down there soon. I also hope the weather warms up a tad, to go with that beer!

Scott's also holding 2-for-1 Blackstrap Stout fills for St. Patty's day next week.

To mark the
Green-ness of what one huge stout manufacturer has been calling "The
St. Patrick's Day SEASON", I'll be running 2-for-1 fills of Black
Strap O'Stout on both Growler Days next week.

Cheers to East End and Scott. Keep up the good work!

East End Brewing Spot on WQED, plus other East End News

Someone ripped this from their DVR and sent it to Scott. I'm posting it here for your viewing pleasure.

I was going to embed it in this post, but YouTube's not liking me right now. You can see it here.



Scott also reports in the newsletter about a new year-round brew:

A few months back, I brewed a batch of Session Ale, with less than one
tenth of the hops that go into a batch of Big Hop IPA. In case you
missed #3, it was a Southern English Nut Brown Ale and at very
drinkable 3.6% abv. The response to a malty beer in the lineup was so
strong that I've decided to balance out the year-round offerings a bit
and promote it from "Returning Session Ale" to "Year Round
Beer" (taking the place of your beloved Pedal Pale Ale, which as
promised before, will return in a new form with another spring keg
ride).

Sounds like Scott's heard the call for session beers, I'm looking forward to trying this one.

Erie Micro Brew Festival will offer a taste of new brews

The Erie Micro Brew Festival, April 20 & 21, being hosted by the Brewerie at Union Station looks to be the a big event for a lot of the regions smaller brewers.

Not only will Sprague Farm be there as well as East End (both more or less one man operations, but the fest info says that Voodoo Brewery will be at the event, one of the most exciting, new, highly anticipated brewers in the area.

There will also be a beer dinner the night before, hosted by Mr PA Beer himself, Lew Bryson.

Call the Brewrie for more information.

Also, if you cannot wait until the to see what Voodoo has up its sleeve, they are one of the brewers, among the other good ones on the itinerary, for the Northwestern PA Brewery Tour, February 17th, also being organized by the Brewerie. My they are busy, no wonder their website is so bare bones! Only joking, folks!

East End Beer Dinner at the Harris Grill TONIGHT

Tonight at the Harris Grill in the Shadyside neighorhood of Pittsburgh, there is a special East End Brewing Dinner. Sadly, I will not be attending (though donations are readily accepted and I would provide excellent coverage), but there are some spots left if you can get there. The menu and pairings sounds amazing. For your tastebud tempting pleasure, here they are:

5 Courses Plus Intermezzos
Salad
Apple, Butternut Squash, And Radicchio Salad With Dry-Hopped Lemon Vinaigrette
Pedal Pale Ale

Soup
Red Dragon-Asparagus Chowder
Big Hop Ipa

Intermezzo: Witte-Citrus Sorbet

Appetizer
Trippel Cheese Puff Pastry “Tart”
Ugly American Trippel Style Ipa

Entrée
Indian Coffee Crusted Strip Steak Over Three Potato Gratin Served With Roasted Golden Beets And A Chipotle Demi-Glace
Gratitude 2006 W/ Bitter End Side Car

Intermezzo: Blackstrap Chocolate Truffle

Dessert
Snow Melt-Macerated Morello Cherries Over Cardamom-Dusted Apple “Crackers” Served With Sweetened Cinnamon Crème Fraiche.
Snow Melt Winter Ale

Oy! And I promise, if/when there is another one, I will not miss it.